Last week, the Senate voted on 29 items of the Constitution Amendment Bill. TAYE ODEWALE reports how the lawmakers voted
Before the Senate voted on the Fourth alteration bills of the 1999 Constitution on Wednesday and Th ursday last week, many thought it was the usual ritual in the National Assembly. Th e journey to amend the Nigerian Constitution has been on since 2000. But not until 2006 nothing concrete came out of the past eff orts when the two chambers composed an elaborate bill slating 126 items of the Constitution for amendment. Unfortunately the exercise died on the fl oor of the senate, following its adulteration by the clause, which prescribed third term in offi ce for the president. 8th Assembly However, in January 2016, the process was restarted by the 8th Assembly, which promised to complete the amendments before the start of 2019 electioneering process. In trying to keep to that promise, the lawmakers converged on Lagos two weeks ago to fi nalise the alteration bills.
Th e Lagos retreat was designed to allow the lawmakers brainstorm on the 33 items slated for amendment to pave the way for the fi nal voting on the fl oor of the Senate and the House. With the annual recess already fi xed for July 27, time had constrained the lawmakers to complete the debate and voting between Tuesday and Th ursday. Geo-Political Sentiment As soon as the alteration bills were laid by the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, intrigues set in as the lawmakers got divided along geopolitical lines with the North taking a critical look at some key items in the proposals.
Th e contentious issues include the planned amendment of the Second Schedule Part 1 &II to devolve some powers to the states, removal of the Land Use Act from the Constitution, 35 per cent affi rmative action in appointment of Ministers and also in appointment of Commissioners in the states, amendment to grant women to either adopt state of husband or state of birth in appointments, and the push for local government autonomy, which encompasses the scrapping of State/Local Government Joint accounts and the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs)the devolution of more powers to the states.
Th e Northerners see devolution of powers and the Land Use Act as indirect ways of importing restructuring into the Constitution and possibly turning the Centre to a weak one as it is done in Confederalism. On their part, the Southern legislators perceive the two clauses as avenues to strengthen the states and ensure the component units develop at their pace. It was as if the forces were massing up for a big battle as the time clicks towards eventually voting. Most of the decisions and intrigues were decided at caucus meetings the previous days.
Th e battle was intense on the fl oor of the Senate where Southern Senators only recently found their rhythm and re-launched the Southern Senators’ Forum (SSF). For the voting exercise, the North-Central were coordinated by an infl uential politician outside the Senate, who advised them to vote for devolution of powers and the amendment to the Land Use Act. Having sensed what was in the offi ng for Southern Senators, who were already assured of the support of the Middle Belt, straddling them North-Central and parts of the Old Gongola, the North moved to stall the amendment exercise.
Using Senators Danjuma Goje and Adamu Aliero, the North moved to set aside the Land Use Act amendment from the exercise and afterwards asked that the voting be delayed until after the six weeks recess. Th e day set aside for the debate on general principles of the bill (second reading) coincided with a programme of the ECOWAS Parliament, which should have had the presiding offi cers in attendance. Th erefore, Senate President Bukola Saraki opted to attend the event while his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu presided over the sitting. Tension Th e North immediately showed their fears to the planned amendment, with Goje and Aliero winding and turning the issues. Aliero said that the Land Use Act should be removed from the amendment, because according to him, the states would reject the amendment and that it would turn to an exercise in futility, while Goje insisted that the planned voting should be suspended till after the annual vacation, when he said the senators would have further consulted with their constituents. It was gathered that the Northern Senators were scared that Ekweremadu, who has been handling the same exercise in the last 11 years, might have hidden some items that would possibly tie the hands of the North in the planned amendments.
Th e arrival of Saraki, however, doused the tension. On arrival at the chamber, the Senate President met a tensed atmosphere. Th e Northern Senators, having observed that their southern colleagues were more enthusiastic about the constitution amendment voting process and that with Ekweremadu presiding, reportedly feared that the interests of the South might have been secretly taken care of. Th e North was said to have calculated that since Senator Ike Ekweremadu, had gathered 11 years’ experience in the position when he had led two previous constitutional amendments exercises, Northern interests might not fare well in the exercise. Saraki was said to have assured the Northern Senators that the process would be transparent and that every vote would count. He also assured them that the rest of the country was waiting for the amendment as a way of dousing tension and agitations across the country. With his assurances to both sides, he moved from his holding offi ce in the White House wing to the plenary to take charge of the proceedings from his deputy.
The voting proper On Wednesday, Northern Senators fi led into the chamber after their Southern counterparts had taken their seats. Key amendments were done on the Land Use Act, Devolution of Powers, affi rmative action for women at the federal and state levels as well as the clause seeking amendments to Section 8 of the Constitution (state creation and boundary adjustment) were rejected, thus making a vote on any of them at the House of Representatives the next day an exercise in futility. At the voting proper, the Senate, amended 29 out of 33 Sections of the Constitution alteration bills listed in the Fourth Constitution alteration bill. Th e rejected bills, which failed to gather 73 votes on the day include; devolution of powers (bill number three), amendment of the Land Use Act (contained in Bill number 32), the 35 per cent affi rmative action for women (contained in bill number 11 and 23) and the bid to amend Section 8 of the Constitution contained in bill number 7. In rejecting the devolution of Powers bill, 46 senators voted in support while 49 voted nay. Th e bill seeks to alter the Second Schedule, Part I & II of the Constitution to devolve certain powers from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List. It also proposed to give more legislative powers to states, while also delineating the extent to which the federal legislature and state assemblies can legislate on the items in the Concurrent Legislative List. Land Use Act In rejecting bill number 32, which sought to alter the 1999 Constitution to delete the Land Use Act from the Constitution such that it can be subject to the regular process of amendment by the National Assembly, the Senate killed one of the most contentious issue in the amendment.
Th e lawmakers also rejected the item number seven on the alteration bill, which would have guaranteed state creation and boundary adjustment. Th e bill sought to alter section 8 of the Constitution to ensure that only democratically elected local government councils participate in the process of state creation and boundary adjustment. Th e bill equally sought to remove ambiguities in the extant provisions to enhance clarity with respect to the procedure for state creation. Also, the senators rejected the affi rmative action for women by voting against bill number 11 of the alteration bills, which sought to guarantee 35 per cent of ministerial appointments for women. Women Affirmative Action Th e Senators voted in this pattern, 49 yes and 43 no while two lawmakers abstained. A similar blow was dealt to the quest for 35 percent affi rmative action for women as commissioners in the states, as the senate voted 61 for and 35 against. None abstained.
Th e Senators, however, passed a clause seeking to amend the composition of Council of States by including Senate Presidents and Speakers of the House of Representatives as members. 93 Senators voted to support the inclusion of the Senate Presidents and Speakers while one abstained. LG Autonomy On local government autonomy, the senate approved the deletion of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) from the Constitution with 73 votes. Th e clause, however, failed to pass in the House of Representatives. Another key amendment passed by the Senate was the granting of fi nancial autonomy for State Legislatures by providing for the funding of the Houses of Assembly of States directly from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the State. LG Account Th e lawmakers also voted for the amendment of Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution to abrogate the State Joint Local Government Accounts and empower each Local Government Council to maintain its own special account into which all allocations due to the Local Government Council shall be directly paid from the Federation Account. Th e states are expected to pay funds accruable to the councils from the states’ IGR into the same account. Further to that is the passage of the bill listed as number six on the Fourth Alteration bill, which seeks to strengthen the local government system. Th e bill garnered 88 Senators’ votes. While voting for the approval of the eighth bill on its list, the Senators voted 93 in favour and one against.
Th e bill seeks to alter sections 4, 51, 67, 68, 93 and 109 of the Constitution to provide immunity for members of the legislature in respect of words spoken or written at plenary sessions or at Committee proceedings. Again, the senate provided time frame for INEC to conduct by-elections and de-register political parties for non-fulfi llment of certain condition. Th e lawmakers also reduced the time frame to assent to bills by the president and governors with 95 voting yes and one no. Th e lawmakers also passed the approval for appointment of a minister from the Federal Capital Territory by seeking to amend section 147 of the Constitution. Th e Senators also passed the independent candidacy bill as well as the not-too-young-torun bills, which sets new age qualifi cations for elective offi ces. On the proposal to split the offi ce of the Accountant-General of the Federation by altering section 84 of the Constitution to establish the offi ce of the Accountant-General of the Federal Government separate from offi ce of the Accountant-General of the Federation, 89 senators voted in its favour.
